Interactive & Immersive Learning for Kids: Basic Algorithm and Minority Language
This exciting and engaging activity offers numerous benefits, not only for parents who have jam-packed schedules but also for children who are equally busy.
Some years back, I happened to come across some intriguing posts about parenting on Facebook. These posts piqued my interest and got me contemplating about imparting basic algorithm knowledge to my then 4.5-year-old son, Henry.
Being mindful of his screentime, I opted to begin with a beginner option that was completely unplugged and offline.
In my search for resources, I discovered Code.org, an incredible platform that offered a comprehensive teaching plan as well as a downloadable PDF containing all the necessary game materials for our coding lessons.
Fortuitously, I had a chalkboard wall at my home, which I decided to make use of. However, if using printing paper is easier for your household, rest assured that it can be just as effective! Now, let's delve deeper into how we managed to spend our days learning coding and Chinese at the same time, all without the need for any digital devices!
Day 1:
We've pretty much copied everything from the original material, except for the fact that, because of my almost non-existent drawing skills, I used a simple smiley face to represent the Henry and didn't bother to copy Flurb from the material. In this course, the student is supposed to circle the correct direction to get the fruit. So in this first session, Henry was very excited to know that the smiley face was representing him and he's part of the game!
The Takeaway:
- General awareness of directions
- Minor motor skills of using a chalk to draw circles
- Four kinds of fruits in Cantonese & Mandarin
Day 2:
We've used traditional characters to replace shapes and icons (please forgive me for my poor handwriting) and added more steps in the top left grid. For some reason, Henry wanted his paternal grandmother, his father, and himself each to have a yoghurt.
He circled "south" for his father and "west" for himself. To get his grandmother her yogurt too, he used a perpendicular arrow to show "first south then west" on the grid.
The Takeaway:
- A slight advance in his algorithm awareness (by doing "first south then west" for his paternal grandmother)
- A stronger awareness of North, South, East, West
- The new word "compass" in Cantonese and Mandarin
- Paternal relatives, some more food items, and the four directions in Cantonese, Mandarin, and traditional characters
- The difference between oral Cantonese and written Chinese in some words (e.g. 嫲嫲 > 祖母)
- A warm feeling from this virtual food arrangement for family members - Minor motor skills of using chalk to draw circles and arrows
Day 3:
In this third session, we utilized my maiden family, additional food items, and incorporated color coordination as well!
The Takeaway:
- Understanding of maternal relatives in Cantonese, Mandarin and traditional characters Stronger correlation of the name and color of four vegetables.
- The difference between oral Cantonese and written Chinese in some more words (e.g. 外婆 > 外祖母).
- Further advancement of his algorithm awareness (by getting his maternal grandma to follow the sequence of eggplant followed by water; and the two options for his uncle to get broccoli).
- (Hopefully) Increased awareness of eating more vegetables as a healthy lifestyle.
- Minor motor skills of drawing the grid as well other shapes besides circles and arrows.
Henry really loved this game and I also appreciate that there are some unplugged options available for families with limited screen time policy. The other advantage of this game is that you can use pretty much any other language to play with! Better still, if you have multiple languages at home, you also have the flexibility of using one language at a time and a different one at another time, depending on your own multilingual parenting strategy! If you don’t have a blackboard, you can also use a whiteboard, or simply use a printout!
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